This is to bring to your immediate attention of the detention of an eminent and internationally acclaimed scientist Dr. Partho Sarothi Ray along with several other citizens by the Kolkata Police. Dr. Partho Sarothi Ray is an established scientist in the field of molecular biology, his scientific research findings have been published in world class journals including Nature. He has also been awarded the Welcome Trust-India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship in 2010 which is one of the most prestigious honors that a young life scientist in India can receive. Dr. Ray is a faculty of IISER Kolkata, one of the esteemed institutions of higher learning in India under MHRD.

You might be aware that, recently the Government of West Bengal has undertaken a massive eviction drive of slum dwellers with police force without any rehabilitation measures. As a natural protest against this unjustified police action, there were peaceful demonstrations by concerned citizens, for which prior permissions were arranged to the local police. In spite of this, Kolkata police used force and unjustified means to crack down on the demonstrators. It was while participating in a peaceful protest against the eviction of slum dwellers of Nonadanga area of East Kolkata, Dr. Ray was arrested along with 68 others including several women and a 9 year old girl on Sunday, April 8, 2012. Of those arrested, 7 people including Dr. Ray have been detained in police custody for several days, and now six of them are put in judicial custody and one in CID custody. In order to justify its high-handedness, the police slapped many dubious cases against Dr. Ray and others, such as Section 353 (assault on public servant), Section 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant), Section 141 (unlawful assembly), Section 143 (punishment), Section 149 (common objective of disruption) of the IPC. The relation of these charges with the events (or lack thereof) of either 4th or peaceful demonstrations of 8th April has not been made clear at all. We are extremely concerned of the treatment meted out to Dr. Ray and others.

Incidentally, the excess of police has clearly not ended. On 12th April, 2012 human rights activists were attacked and later arrested at a demonstration against the illegal evictions and the detention of Dr. Ray and others. Furthermore recent media reports reveal that on April 13, 2012, Professor Ambikash Mahapatra, a faculty in Chemistry Department from Jadavpur University was first beaten up mercilessly by goons for an action which was as innocuous as forwarding an email to his friends whose content constituted a cartoon that had already been posted on Facebook a few weeks back. It is frightening to note that instead of taking action against the assaulters, West-Bengal Police arrested Prof. Mahapatra. He was charged for forwarding to his acquaintances a political caricature and kept in police custody for a night in spite being charged under bail-able sections of the Indian Penal Code.

This, in our opinion, constitutes a clear violation of freedom of speech and all conceivable rights of an individual due to illegal action by the state police. The state administration has issued public statements in both print and electronic media in support of this barbaric act.

We are extremely perturbed by such use of State force in cracking down on human rights activists, and citizens attempting to raise issues of concern related to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people of our country or for actions such as forwarding cartoons (which had already been put earlier on popular internet websites such as Facebook). While we should be making space to protect voices of conscience, especially when they come from those who hold positions of eminence in various fields, we find that the apparatus of the State is using the law and its modes of intimidation to stifle such voices. This violent suppression of protest appears also to be an attempt to threaten those who might raise their voice in dissent.

It would therefore help if you could personally intervene to resolve these matters urgently. We fear that this approach of the State has serious implications not only for the events occurring in Kolkata but for the larger democratic ideals which this country espouses. In particular, we request that Dr. Partho Sarothi Ray and others be granted bail immediately. We also urge that all the dubious charges placed against Dr. Ray, Prof. Mahapatra and the other protestors be dropped and an impartial enquiry by a central agency be conducted into these matters to prevent any further violation of human rights.

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Thank you to all those who have taken the trouble to read the article and share their thoughts. Out of the arguments made here, there are two that perhaps need answering. So here they go.

1. The first part of the article compares outcomes (relative percentages of population of the religions concerned) irrespective of the process that led to those outcomes - whether immigration, relatively faster population growth or conversions. This was for two reasons. One, to put the figure of 2.3 per cent in "numerical perspective", as the article itself explained. The second reason was that outcomes are ultimately what the crux of debate is about. The rest of the article in any case dealt with process - or conversions in this case, from both a contemporary and historical perspective.

2. Some commenters have tried to cast doubts on the reliability of Census 2001. Those who do this should bear in mind that Census 2001 was conducted by a BJP government. Considering the extreme importance that BJP gives to this issue, it would be reasonable to expect that IF it had perceived a problem with the methodology that was distorting the numbers, it would have fixed it. As the article mentioned, BJP or BJP-supported governments have been in power for 10 of the last 40 years, or about a quarter of the time, and the only reasonable conclusion one can arrive at is that any misreporting of numbers, real or perceived, would be marginal and hence, not of importance.

To all other arguments made, my answer is the following: Please read the article again, with particular focus on the quotations of Vivekananda and Monier Williams, and the history of the missionary efforts in Bengal and their outcome.

Thanks and Regards,
Tony Joseph

13/D-95

Apr 20, 2012

08:06 PM

The problem of bangaldeshis is not new. EVer since the formation of Bangladesh, there has been illegal migration. I was told by a friend living in calcutta that under yothi Basu's regime. these illegal migrants were given ration card by cpm after taking Rs.100 which gives the status of a citizen almost. the damage was done long back and Mamtha is trying to clean the stables. From the accent one can identify a real bengali from bangla deshi. She must call the centre for deportation of these guys who are responsible for thefts, dacoities, prostitution, murder etc., in the places they have migrated to. Orissa also suffers form the migration of these bangla deshis. WB and Orissa must jointly take up this problem with centre for deportation and freeing themselves from the unwanted expenditure over these illegals

"... Ray insisted at a press conference within hours of walking out of jail that he had been framed, and described the situation in Bengal as a "dark state of democracy".

"I was not on the spot on April 4," Ray said, referring to the police crackdown on a rally by Nonadanga squatters near Ruby Hospital to protest against their eviction. "I was busy in a faculty meeting on the IISER campus, 70km away from Tiljala. The minutes of the meeting are recorded. I stayed on campus that night. Even after producing documentary proof, I was sent to jail. In the process, I lost 10 days of my life," added the scientist, who was granted bail on Tuesday and walked out of Alipore Central Jail at 9.55am on Wednesday. He was charged under stringent IPC sections 143, 147, 149, 186, 283, 332, 336, 341 and 353 for assaulting policemen and provoking people to commit crimes."

Time Delhi imposes President's rule on Bengal to banish the wicked woman to political oblivion and bring civilized governance in Bengal. Otherwise, there is going to be hell there.

This state of affairs reminds me of the tyranny in Bengal during the Muslim rule of Shirajudullah under the Sultans in Lucknow which brought the English on the door step.

>> "You might be aware that, recently the Government of West Bengal has undertaken a massive eviction drive of slum dwellers with police force without any rehabilitation measures."

Oh yes morons!! These are all illegal slums, most of the residents being illegal Bangladesis. If you are so fond of them, you can shelter them in your homes. And, past expereince shows that rehabilitation does not work with these people for two primary reasons:

1. Rehabilitation often means migrating to a place far from their place of work.

2. Even if rehabilitated, many of them simply lease their homes to others and go back to the slums.

Those who rant about their "freedom" must acknowledge that they have some responsibilities as well.

It is comical to see Noam Chomsky on the list-the guy who supported the brutal suppression in Nandigram-on the ground that opposing it would strengthen the anti-left forces. His concern right now is very touching.

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